You can find out more about Joshhere www.ultimatepodiatrist.com.au

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Eve & Trisha

Eve Drew  00:00

Welcome to the business of health Podcast. I'm Eve Drew founder of Her Health Collective and I'm Trisha Cashmere

 

Trisha Cashmere  00:06

CEO of the Healthy Body Company. And we are so glad that you've found our podcast. We hope

 

Eve Drew  00:11

you find it inspiring, educational and empowering. Hello and welcome to this week's edition of the Business of Health Podcast. Joining me today is my wonderful co host Tricia Cashmere.

 

Trisha Cashmere  00:24

Good morning Trisha, Hi Eve, How are you?

 

Eve Drew  00:27

I'm really well thank you and we have a special guest today. Joining us today is Josh Truscott. Hi, Josh.

 

Josh Trucott  00:34

Hi, Eve. Hi Trisha.

 

Eve Drew  00:37

I'm going to introduce Josh and tell you a little bit about all of the amazing things he has achieved in his career and life so far. So Josh graduated from Latrobe uni in 97 with first class honours and was awarded the highest overall academic standard in his final undergraduate year. For two years, Josh worked in private practice in Melbourne before embarking on a three year working holiday in Canada, England and Italy. His professional highlights were working as a boot fitter in the ski resort of Whistler and in the medical center at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, on returning to Australia, Josh established his best private practice in Launceston Tasmania. This was created from scratch and grew to a busy clinic employing six team members. Josh set up visiting services surrounding towns and won a federal government grant to fund this. In 2012, Josh sold this clinic and relocated to beautiful Bowral in New South Wales, where he established another podiatry clinic again from scratch. Throughout his clinical career, Josh recognized the frustrations clinicians experienced in accessing professional development, particularly in meeting the registration board's requirements. With this in mind, he established Ultimate Podiatrist in 2015. It has since grown to provide professional development in Australia, Singapore, the UK, Canada and New Zealand. Josh balances his professional development business with the provision of locum podiatry services, and is currently working on Phillip Island in Victoria.

 

Josh Trucott  02:06

 

 

Eve Drew  02:07

Welcome, Josh. Thanks very mucA very impressive bio. We were talking about that before we before we started to record and you've achieved a lot in your career.

 

Josh Trucott  02:18

Thank you. Yes. It's nice to hear it right back, actually. Because when you're thinking about it and creating it yourself, when you're right in amongst it, I don't think you get quite the same perspective as hearing someone else. Write it out.

 

Trisha Cashmere  02:32

It just makes me want to go on a holiday. That's what's happened now. We go Canada, England,

 

Eve Drew  02:38

Italy.

 

Trisha Cashmere  02:39

Even Phillip Island sounds good.

 

02:44

Phillip Island  is beautiful actually, there's heaps of work down here too, for both of you. So just let me know if and when you want to come down?

 

Trisha Cashmere  02:52

I think I said holiday. That's fine. Um, so I'm asking the first question, because you know, it was making me that's okay. Josh, I'm super interested to understand how you ended up in this allied health world to start with? What was the thing?

 

Josh Truscott  03:11

That's a good question. And I guess as podiatrists we get asked that all the time, and I must say I find it quite hard to answer because I was 17 when I made the decision to study podiatry and I'm 47 now, so my memory doesn't quite go back that long, but I know that my interests at high school were certainly health and science and I also realized that I had have probably naturally caring and helpful personality. So doing something in the health sciences became a fair was was a fairly obvious decision when I was when I understood all of that. And in terms of Podiatry over other professions, look, I guess, like most of us I had applied for physio and, and nursing and other allied health professionals as well. And but I do like or I was drawn to podiatry because of the I guess specificity of it. And the idea of being able to become an expert or a specialist on one fairly contained area, rather than perhaps the the more generalist skills for say, physio or nursing

 

Trisha Cashmere  04:18

As a physiotherapist. I often feel like we should have all been podiatrists, frankly, so we can potentially take it offline later

 

Josh Truscott  04:25

Be great to do I'm sure there's a reality TV show there. Isn't there a career swapping? Where Yeah, I'd love to know, if you jumped into the clinic, how long it would take for the patient to realize that you didn't know what you're doing? Probably Probably a long time, I'd say

 

Trisha Cashmere  04:39

 I hope that we'd have some things that we have in common. That's yeah, I think that your experience is true of everyone but you you went into clinical work and then you started traveling. How did you like that first kind of dip your toe for those first sort of two or three years in private practice?

 

Josh Truscott  04:56

Yeah, I really loved it. I was lucky I worked for a great guy in Melbourne who did and does still have a great reputation and runs a wonderful clinic. He never needs to advertise for staff because he staff enjoy working there. And he was a great first influence for me. That was Bernard Comerford in Essendon. Hello to Bernard if you're listening, and thanks for everything. So yeah, I loved it. I think what I realize now, probably not at the time is that I really thrive on that steep learning curve. So any new activity, whether it's studying podiatry, or those first sort of six months of practice, or learning an instrument, or a sport or a new business concept, it's that initial enjoyment and learning that that really drives me. So yeah, I had a great time. in my first couple of years, looking back, I probably worked harder than I should have, and possibly, probably was quite overloaded with patients. We used to have 20 minute consults. And the morning session was was five hours. So 15 patients before lunch is, I couldn't do that. Now. Also, things back then were different. We didn't have the reporting obligations that we have now with Medicare, etc.

 

Trisha Cashmere  06:13

Yeah. Wow. So then you decided to go traveling?

 

Josh Truscott  06:15

Yeah. Yeah, I probably realized after probably the, probably the first 12 months that I needed, I needed a little bit of a change and something else. And I'd had some friends that had gone overseas, and I guess was pretty inspired by some of their, their tails. And so I did another 12 months and and then left after just over two years, and went to Canada first for 12 months, then two years in England and six months in Italy.

 

Trisha Cashmere  06:45

If you could change something in that first few years of your experience in private practice, and I think I know, part of the answer will be they're not in 15 minute appointments, or 20 minute appointments before lunch. What would what would you what would you change?

 

Josh Truscott  07:02

Yeah, well, that definitely is one. I think, as a new grad, I didn't have the confidence and the self awareness to maybe speak up for myself. So I think now going back, I would I would just explain that I can't manage 15 patients in a session. And I need a little bit of downtime, and also a little bit of time allocated for professional development and mentoring, and those sorts of things. And that was that was allowed. But I think the the formulation was basically if you have a cancellation or a blank spot, that's when you that's what you use that time for. And I think for lots of people, that probably works really well. But for me, I think I needed to have some scheduled time to do that. So yeah, that's that's one thing. Probably more just more time for learning, I think and realizing, I guess that I was new grad, I think probably like a lot of us. I was just a bit overconfident back then and thought I knew everything because I'd come out of uni, and I'd done well at uni. So it took me a while to realize that doing well at uni doesn't really relate to being able to help patients.

 

Trisha Cashmere  08:19

You know, that's a revelation that we all have. And isn't it horrible?

 

Josh Truscott  08:25

It is,

 

Trisha Cashmere  08:26

Oh that's a hard thing. So smart. What? Interesting, nevermind.

 

Josh Truscott  08:31

When the theory doesn't make the practice, as well, I think that's part of it that, you know, I had a pretty solid understanding of biomechanics, for example. Yeah, I thought I thought I did. And but when those patients didn't get better, despite me applying those biomechanical principles, that was really frustrating.

 

Trisha Cashmere  08:49

I think there's some super hit how tos, we do have a lot of like early career physios that seem to listen, I think that those things are really helpful to kind of reflect on. And, you know, when when you're talking about those patients who aren't improving, maybe some really good mentoring and support around that to kind of, so that there's that combination of recently acquired fantastic knowledge, and also that deep kind of understanding that comes with years of practice. So yeah, very good. Thanks, Josh.

 

Eve Drew  09:19

With that understanding, Josh, when you then created and launched your own businesses, were you able to do things a little differently in your own practice?

 

Josh Truscott  09:30

Yeah, that's a good question. I certainly intended to and with the very best intentions of setting aside so for the first maybe 12 months, it was just me and receptionists. I didn't have staff to employ, but when I did, I was very conscious of giving them a lot of flexibility and scope for autonomy. And I'll probably digress a little bit here, but I think one of the reflections from that is I think I gave them too much and not enough structure and mentoring. And in retrospect, it would have been better to find a slightly better balance.

 

Trisha Cashmere  10:10

There's no how to is there, like that, that journey into business ownership. Like we all go there for different reasons. I think we talked about this earlier Josh, and you can talk please more about how you know, the fit in terms of your personal skill sets, we make those decisions about our professional roles at a really young age, and we follow those paths for various reasons, but then may not find where we land to be as fulfilling as we expect. So then look at different opportunities. But um, yeah, I think that there is, and this is why Eve does what she does, and why we have this podcast, because there is so much learning by doing, which sometimes doesn't work. You know, there's some challenges along the way.

 

Josh Truscott  10:52

Yeah, I'd might actually pick up on that, if I may, because that's something that I really wanted to share today was in, I suppose, my, my high school and university days, I would, I had to have a very problem solving mind. So when I was in a situation or confronted with a problem and maths problem, for example, my solution was to think it through and I could sit down and, and solve that problem just through application of thought. And things were very different in the real world, or, or in the clinical world, I guess, when I realized there was at a point of dissatisfaction, I can remember thinking to myself, on a Sunday afternoon, I'm going to sit down and solve this problem, I'm going to, you know, make myself a cup of tea, clear my head and and come to a solution, but it just doesn't work. Or it certainly didn't work for me. But the thing again, this is retrospectively, the thing that did work, was just trying things and creating some momentum. There's a saying that I'd heard in a business development course that I did years ago, that still resonates. And that is that you can't steer a parked car. And so that was just so applicable to me that rather than continuing to do what I wasn't really enjoying, and try to think of a solution, just trying different things. So creating the clinic or trying different elements of running things in the clinic, and then trying the online business and lots of things, lots of other things that I tried didn't work. But I guess I would never have never have discovered what I what I love doing now, if I hadn't tried some things, because one thing led to another that you know, the dissatisfaction as a clinician led to the creation of my own business, the the difficulties and stress around that led to embarking on a 12 month business development program. That then exposed me to some other ideas around online businesses. And I went to a conference on the Gold Coast around online businesses, that then sparked  the idea of Ultimate Podiatrist, and that's where I am now. But if I hadn't opened my practice, I probably wouldn't be here. Or if I was, I would have come through a completely different route.

 

Trisha Cashmere  13:16

That's fascinating.

 

Eve Drew  13:18

It is. And I think it's important for people listening to in that if people are at those crossroads or feeling a bit stuck in in their career, there's always an opportunity to use those skills and strengths that we have developed throughout our career thus far, and capitalize on those those and use them in other ways, doesn't mean that all of that's been wasted, or that we're failing in that way it's looking at, okay, how can we use these skills in a different way. And again, the first route may not be the one we end up in, necessarily, but we're learning skills along the way, for the next step. I think that's really an empowering thing to hear, Josh,

 

Josh Truscott  13:51

Thanks Eve. And also, I think with that, that idea of using those skills. To me, I think there could be a bit of a trap in, trying to again, work out what those skills are and how I can apply them. Whereas if you just do something different, you'll realize that the skills that you've accumulated are being used, and it may not be at the time that you realize that looking back, you can see how some of those skills can be applied or have been applied.

 

Eve Drew  14:19

That's a great distinction. Definitely. I think, Trisha, and I've talked about this, in previous podcasts and even offline about, you know, there is a fairly significant attrition rate in healthcare, I think across all industry, but particularly in healthcare at the moment. And so, you know, the three of us and we had a guest yesterday that was, you know, in a similar situation, as healthcare professionals that are not necessarily practicing all that much or at all in that space as well. But I guess just showcasing that there's lots of other opportunities as well within our space. So yeah, just trying different things. And I think the thing about trying different things is by connecting with people in different industries and different spaces as well. And that networking is very, very powerful. Definitely for our growth,

 

Trisha Cashmere  15:06

and even just bringing across the knowledge that we gain from different spaces, you know, healthcare has a very particular, you know, way of doing things. It's not the only way. And in some circumstances, it's not even the best way. And I think a people management piece, probably the bit where, you know, and Josh, you've touched on this, and that's why you've developed the new business that you have. That's where we don't necessarily have great strengths, because all of our education, and well, this is certainly true of physiotherapy. And I think yours as well, is very much about clinical management. It's not about you know, people management, or business management, or any of the other aspects that really have to work, especially if you're working in that private in that private space.

 

Josh Truscott  15:47

Yeah, I completely agree. And I know what my memory of my studies at uni were, that there might have been a one hour lecture on people management or something like that might have been a subject at best, but really, to do it properly. It needs to be it needs to be introduced from day one. And it needs to be a feature of the whole course. And basically forever as a practitioner, it's not something that you can like a lot of clinical skills, you can you can learn them reasonably quickly. And you've learned them. But I think with people management, it just has to be a long term, evolving process.

 

Trisha Cashmere  16:24

And I do think that the people manager part has two sides, because there's one thing being a manager, but there's also been the person who's been managed and understanding the different drivers and pressures potentially, around the business. And I think, you know, so many of our gorgeous health professionals come into it, because I just want to help everybody and help the world when they choose. However, to work in that private space, there are other issues and drivers that need to be considered. And it's not just doing all these absolutely doing a great job with every client. But understanding that, you know, there are financial kind of consequences. And, you know, financial targets do have to be achieved, to be able to maintain all of the things that go with it. So it's a really interesting, interesting and challenging kind of space to be dabbling in.

 

Josh Truscott  17:07

Yeah, that's, that's a fascinating point. And again, it's possibly a bit of a divergence here. But I think one of the biggest problems that employers and employees have, is not developing a genuine respect and trust of each other, I think that the young employee thinks that the boss is, you know, taking the cream and earning the big dollars and playing golf every afternoon. But the business and the business owner thinks that the employee has got it easy, because they just turn up and do their job and get paid well and go home. And there's often this lack of connection, perhaps between the two, I think, possibly for all of us who have been employees and business owners think it's not until you get to that point that you realize just what it's like to be to be each other. Yeah.

 

Trisha Cashmere  17:55

So I'm going to continue down this fabulous diversion, because I'm loving it. I recently did an interesting leadership sort of program. And one of the I mean, there's amazing takeaways, lots of them. But one of the things is clear, is kind. So being really clear with your team about what the expectations are of the business, what's necessary for everything to work, what you're expecting of them periodically, so that they know where that line is, and you know, they can manage without, I think sometimes in health, we don't like to say the numbers or the values or the those things because it's uncomfortable, it's not a space that any of us are comfortable in, but being very clear about what has to happen for the business to operate in a way that is sustainable, and then, you know, ensures everybody's continuing, you know, employment with remuneration at a level that like, I think is super helpful. So I digressed. Apologies,

 

Josh Truscott  18:46

and I'll continue the digression but one additional point of that, Trisha, I think, is I completely agree. But I also I also think the employee needs to be able to express their needs to be able to say that, you know, I can only work a certain number of hours with patients or I need to have a varied caseload or whatever those needs. They I need two hours at lunchtime, so I can go to the gym. I think too often the employee, particularly the new graduate, just doesn't have the confidence or possibly even a self awareness to realize what their needs are

 

Trisha Cashmere  19:18

Yeah, I think as employers, we can really open up those conversations early on and create a workplace where people feel like you know, those things, their ideas of value that their needs are, you know, really relevant to that success. And as a business owner, and someone who's looking to have, you know, long term relationships, all of my staff. I personally feel like if I'm not hitting those goals, I'm not I'm not running a great business. I'm not getting the sustainability that I need. So I think, yeah, just having really been very clear, you know, having honest conversations from the start, and on ongoing basis is helpful. Definitely.

 

Eve Drew  19:54

The ongoing basis is important, isn't it, Trisha? And you've got an incredible mentoring program at your business. And that's something that you're very committed to. And I think a lot of businesses are jumping on board now.  I hope I kind of maybe the people that I speak to are, but you need regular catch ups so you can talk about these things. Because otherwise, it's often just catching up when things are not good, or someone's disgruntled or the wheels are falling off. And then those conversations are a lot more difficult. So that onboarding process is understanding what each other's expectations are of one another. And how we can support people to, you know, enjoy their week, create their ideal week, see their ideal clients like that's, that is our responsibility as a as a business owner. And I think the the joint reward is that we have engaged happy team members. And ultimately, when we're engaged and happy, then we perform well. I think also, the discomfort around money is something that most health professionals have, because the reality is a large percentage of us would do it, for nothing. Really, I know there's a commercial reality to it. But in an ideal world, we would do it because we love it. And we love helping people. So I think how we can be supporting young people is opening up those conversations early in their career to to give them the confidence to navigate through them to be to learn how to negotiate, to learn how they can actually articulate what their value is, in a monetary sense within a business as well. Yeah,

 

Trisha Cashmere  21:23

Clear is kind definitely super interested, Josh, in, in your business, your current business, and what the trigger was to kind of jumping into that. And where it's gotten to gotten you to is I don't know that. I may not be words anyway, you know what I'm trying to

 

Josh Truscott  21:42

I think so.

 

Trisha Cashmere  21:46

Otter Ai is going to love that, where it's got to today right now.

 

Josh Truscott  21:52

It really was a bit of a, like a light bulb moment. And I think in in, in our lives, we have light bulb moments, possibly not very many of them. But for me, it was it was extremely clear in that I had attended a two day conference on the Gold Coast around online businesses, which is something that I hadn't really thought of before. And within a couple of hours, I think I realized that there was this scope to create an online business to support podiatrists in professional development. Because professional development at that time wasn't really online. There were a little few things online, but there wasn't much. It was mainly in person. And I knew just from my experiences, my own experiences as a podiatrist, but also in talking to my colleagues that pretty much everyone found professional development difficult, particularly when the Registration Board, formalized the requirements, which the our current requirements were formulated in, or this is, this might be embarrassing, I'm pretty sure it's 2015. And, as you guys probably both know, they're fairly complicated. And I don't think anyone has a solid understanding of them, it took me a long time to understand them, as I was developing Ultimate Podiatrist. So yes, it was it was back to the conference, it was, it was just this a couple of hours process of identifying the opportunity. And the way that I could apply the principles that I was learning around online businesses in a way that would support my colleagues in becoming compliant with their professional development needs. And not just from a compliance perspective, but from a learning and engagement perspective as well. I was sick of paying lots of money to go to conferences, to hear someone talk about a research project that didn't have much relevance to me, and that I could have listened to on a webinar is why why travel and pay to hear that type of presentation. Now, there are exceptions. And there are there's some fantastic presenters and in lots of cases, attending live provides a huge advantage, particularly when it comes to practical skills. But it just really drove me mad to spend my hard earned money and, and my time sitting in a lecture that was completely boring and irrelevant.

 

Trisha Cashmere  24:28

I mean, obviously, this this sort of delivery strategy that you've created means that, you know, can happen anywhere it can happen in a team. You know, at the end of the year, when you're realizing that you're five or 10 hours short. There's things that can be done to help you out. Yeah, definitely.

 

Josh Truscott  24:45

That's right.

 

Eve Drew  24:46

Yep. Because lots of people crammed in in November, don't they Josh?

 

Josh Truscott  24:51

Absolutely. November is the busiest time for me. And if I had a business perspective, there's there's to, again, it's another divergence here. So remind me to come back to the original topic. But I think with with a standard business and certainly a podiatry clinic, you tend to generate the same amount of revenue week after week and month after month. There's no particular time. That's, that's, that's quiet or busy. Yeah, maybe school holidays a little bit for pediatric patients. But that's probably about it. Whereas with my business, what's happened I've since I've been running it, I've realized there's really only two times a year that I need to focus on marketing. And that's coming towards the end of financial year, as people are more prepared to spend money for the tax benefits. And towards the end of the registration period. So I get most of my signups in late October, early November, when people realize that they haven't got the hours that they need. They're worried that they're going to get audited. And they know that if they do get audited, they'll  fail completely. Yeah. And so they join, you know, with two or three weeks to go. And that's certainly not the ideal way of learning. However, it's completely, it's completely valid and allowable to get 20 hours, it doesn't matter when you get those 20 hours, you could go 20 hours straight on the 29th of November if you wanted to. And you'd still meet the podiatry board requirements,

 

Trisha Cashmere  26:14

and are you creating your content. Josh, are you sort of leading, you know, bringing other people in to help you do that for your program?

 

Josh Truscott  26:22

Yeah, I exhausted my own capacity of content pretty early. I had a couple of areas that I felt pretty comfortable in. And I presented those early on. And now it's almost exclusively sourcing expert presenters. So I become the mediator and the facilitator, the host, and the expert presenter is the one who provides the material. That's fantastic.

 

Trisha Cashmere  26:48

Do you have a Podcast Josh, should you have a podcast? Oh, yeah,

 

Josh Truscott  26:55

there's, we were talking before. We were talking before the show about, about my business in that I'm, I'm really proud of where it is and what I've created. But I also realize there are huge amounts of improvements that could be made. My social media presence is pretty poor. Podcasts are non existent. So yes, I completely can see the the additional things I could be building into it.

 

Eve Drew  27:24

I think you can guest on podcasts right?

 

Trisha Cashmere  27:29

This is fantastic. And we're loving that you're here today. And we'll put it all out there for you. So you

 

Josh Truscott  27:36

actually, I must say it's the one of the things that I enjoy the most around, running a business of any sort is the collaborations with other people. And that's where Ultimate Podiatrist has been really good too, because it's gotten me to work with a huge variety of really interesting people and to have great conversations with with you guys, for example, and all the other people that are doing great things in business, either online or, or bricks and mortar. That's a really exciting and interesting part of of the process.

 

Trisha Cashmere  28:08

I agree. Yes, I get to talk to Eve all the time.

 

Eve Drew  28:13

Well interestingly enough, when I was dipping my toe into online business, it was Josh, who was the first person who reached out and was incredibly supportive and generous with his time and knowledge. And yeah, I just can't thank you enough for that, Josh. And then encouraged me to explore Tina Towers program, her Empire Builder, which is where I met Trisha. So it's this lovely circle of, you know, of life, I guess that we're all connecting here today. And, you know, jumping into that online world, like You've obviously done an incredible job creating Ultimate Podiatrist, Josh, and Trisha and I, you know, understand the back end, having had a couple of years in the program, and still probably waiting for my light bulb moment with a really good product, I think. But it's it is stimulating to learn all of those new skills. And it certainly keeps me interested it's that, that love of learning that you have Josh, where it's like, what next? When where can we learn more skills and grow? Grow our knowledge? So yeah,

 

Josh Truscott  29:13

and just to go back half a step over to that experience of, of reaching out to you when you were creating your online business. It's a bit of a sliding doors moment, because that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been so friendly and welcoming when I did the locum for you years and years beforehand. So, you know, you you were in my mind or when I saw your stuff online, I had fond memories of that locum experience. So I'm sure when we look back, we wouldn't have thought that the significance of that, you know, that locum position and the way that that you welcomed me into the clinic would have the consequences that it has had.

 

Trisha Cashmere  29:49

I was just gonna say this is something I talk to my team all that all the time because we talk about the importance of networks and the importance of you know, developing it A network of trusted people and and I always say to them, you don't know who the people will be like you don't know who's going to be helpful to your or interested in you or supportive of you or, you know, who you'll be able to help in the future. So, you know, value every single one of those interactions, be with the receptionist in your case, Josh, the locum, you know, if she'd been a crappy, you know, like, I would have not been doing any of that. So I think that's a fascinating, fascinating insight into just the value. Because people struggle with networking. And I think when you're a business owner, no matter what type of business it is, it is actually a really important part of it. But it doesn't have to be forced, it isn't like a quid pro quo on every interaction. It's definitely a long game. So that's, that's lovely to hear that she's always been lovely. And it's been a benefit to both of you. I have a question, Josh. And I'm interested because this online space is a really interesting space. And there is lots of movement in it. I think we've talked about maybe some of the upsides or you might have more that you want to mention. But I'm also interested to hear, you know, maybe some downsides, not to put it down or on it, but just you know, as a kind of cautionary tale for people who think right, yep. Great. Here I go.

 

Josh Truscott  31:08

Yeah, that's a great, great point. And there are a couple of things that sprang to mind. So one of them, which is possibly not unique to an online business, but I think as being a business owner, one of them in my experiences was that you never turn off that even on the weekend. And in the evenings, you're thinking through ways of improving the business or issues that have happened at work that you need to resolve. So not being not being able to relax and turn off. I think is definitely one of them. And perhaps specific to the online space is big, there's a huge positive in the flexibility, that that I have in my work, I can work whenever I want to pretty much within reason, and also wherever I want to. So at the moment, I'm in Phillip Island, I could be anywhere in the world producing content. So it's absolutely magnificent from that perspective. But the downside is when you don't have enough structure, it's easy not to do the things that you need to do, and to and to put those off until tomorrow. And I shudder, I really shudder to think of the opportunities that I've missed, simply because I haven't quite felt like doing a particular job. And that if I did have someone breathing down my neck and forcing me to do it, and I'd done it, that I'd been in a completely different position or that there'd be an aspect of the business that that was running a lot more smoothly. You might need a Coach Josh? Yeah, I definitely, definitely think that's a good idea,

 

Trisha Cashmere  32:42

not offering. Are you?

 

Josh Trucott  32:44

Are you volunteering for Eve to be my coach?

 

Eve Drew  32:46

I don't know what I can teach you Josh, I think you know, a lot more than me in that space.

 

Josh Truscott  32:52

It's like another digression. But I don't necessarily think it's about one person knowing more than another. I think it's a true accountability piece Yeah, exactly. If you look at I'm not massively into tennis, but when you look at tennis coaches, for example, but the coach is usually not as well very rarely is as accomplished as the player the player is much better than the coach ever was. But the coach has something that the player doesn't have. And also, we've mentioned this before, before we were talking, it's easier around a bio, it's easier to write someone else's bio, or to pump up someone else's tyres than it is to do your own. So I think that's where that coaching relationship can work really well. Just having a different perspective.

 

Eve Drew  33:36

I think so too. I wonder with that accountability with time, I often reflect upon that with some of the flexibility I have on my non clinical days now. And I have to really time block because I think having 20 years of having no real control over our time as health professionals, it's like we arrive and literally back to back clients for our day. There isn't really that flexibility our times accounted for. So I often reflect upon whether that's played a part in that for me, or that's just a personal thing. But

 

Josh Truscott  34:06

that's a good point. Interesting insight. It's almost like a reaction to the fact that our time has been so structured in the past or almost a rebellion to think well now I don't have the structure. I'm just gonna sit on the couch for half an hour,

 

Trisha Cashmere  34:21

go to the gym have a shower, wash my hair. So

 

Eve Drew  34:26

I really I know it is I like the ability to structure my day on how my energy feels as well and getting that non clinical time because we just don't have that flexibility in that clinical role. But it's been an interesting insight and shift in energy for me trying to manage my time in a when it's not structured. And I have kind of full control over it. So I can see how we can get distracted very easily.

 

Josh Truscott  34:52

Probably finding some sort of balance is probably the only healthy solution. But if you I think it's important to block out time and to prioritize the the important things like going to the gym, I'd actually almost prioritize that as a first thing because I know if I go to the gym or go for a run early in the morning, that sets me up for the day. So that that's a really important thing to do something having a degree of structure and blocking of time, but also to allow a bit of whitespace in the diary so that if you're not 100%, you can have an nap or that if other jobs need to be done, they can be done.

 

Trisha Cashmere  35:24

And does thinking time. You know, I read a book by a guy called Keith Cunningham, who has this amazing Texan accent, and I listened to an audible, which was super fun. Time and His thing was just, you know, you need to think thinking time, everything was thinking time. And I think we actually forget about how important that, that just having that space in your days. I have another very specific question, Josh, and it's about your business and the management of CPD in podiatry particular. And if you can comment to that, you know, CPD across allied health more generally, how are we going? Are people complying and doing a good job? Or do you feel like it is a bit of a concerning area?

 

Josh Truscott  36:01

Yeah, it's a good question. It's definitely a concerning area. I think people are, I guess what I'm seing I can only comment on what I'm seeing. But so what I'm saying is that people are more compliant now. And I think in the early days of running my business, a lot of people had really no idea and were not doing the right thing, not intentionally, but they just didn't have the time or the interest to comply. So I think the compliance side of things is definitely improving. What I would say, though, is, I guess at a pure level of professional development, just complying really is it's not enough. And it frustrates me. I guess that in the the strictness and the complexity of the podiatry board guidelines, what's happening is people are doing learning activities to tick a box or to comply or to get some hours in a certain category, not not necessarily doing the learning, because it's something they're interested in or that it's going to improve their their outcomes. Yeah. So I think almost I can understand the the principles behind introducing mandatory CPD and having specific requirements, I can completely understand that they're important. And I, I agree that they should be there. But I think it's almost forced some people to go the other way where they're, maybe they're missing out on interesting and important learning opportunities. Because they need a certain number of hours in a certain category by a certain timeframe.

 

Eve Drew  37:36

Maybe not doing that's the thing, those people probably weren't doing any, though prior to that maybe like when it wasn't mandated. And when I say not doing any, it's probably more than some people were doing before they had the different categories and things like that, which is, I guess, allowing us to do a more rounded, PD, having more rounded PD in all the different areas, because I know I used to do a lot in certain areas, but then not in others. So I like that there's some kind of a bit of a push for us to get different categories as well.

 

Josh Truscott  38:10

Yeah, it's definitely there's definitely a positive and as you say, 20 hours of poor quality, CPD is better than zero. And I think that the bulk of people are making an effort and doing doing the right thing most of the time and getting hours in different categories that does contribute to their overall learning. So yes, I think overall, I think we're doing pretty well. There's certainly room for improvement, though. How can you help Josh? So Well, thanks for asking, Trisha. I think the main elements of ultimate podiatrist that I think works for people and why it's been popular is writing down the complexity of the guidelines into a way that is user friendly. So as an example, our activities are organized by a category. So it reduces some of the  ambiguity around what's what activity, you might which category you might claim a certain activity in. So having that  slightly more simplified approach is definitely the probably the main benefit. The other one is that the majority of our activities are linked with the delivery of a certificate. So with our online learning, there's a quiz that people do and quiz then triggers the delivery of a certificate and that's all automated, by the way so and it's hosted on a third party. So in 10 years time, if someone needs to retrieve a certificate, it's going to be there. And then live events also generate a certificate so people know that by doing the assessment or attending a live event, they then they have a certificate that they can use in as evidence in case of an audit. And also, they don't have to worry too much about retaining that certificate forever, because because they know that I'll have it at my end. And then probably the third, the third component would be in choosing the content that I try  to choose a degree of, of, or a varied amount of topics that apply to the average general podiatrist. So it's, there's no specific focus on on one aspect of practice, it covers pretty much every element of practice. So if you're not interested in a certain topic, that's fine. There'll be something else that you are interested in, and the emphasis on the content. Certainly, I'm aiming for it to be clinically relevant. The other thing we do, actually, that, that I keep forgetting to promote is an audit support service. So one of the biggest stresses for clinicians is being audited, whether it's through Medicare or private health insurance, or the podiatry board. And the majority of people that I've spoken with around the audit support service, tearing their hair out and worried. And so we offer an audit support service, where the, in the first instance, I'll provide one on one support with someone to make sure that their learning is done correctly, and that they've tracked everything correctly. And then if someone does get audited, I'm happy to help talk them through that process, and let them know what they need to do. And mainly help them organize their, their learning  in the right format, to to satisfy the auditors.

 

Eve Drew  41:48

That's actually very helpful.

 

Trisha Cashmere  41:49

Yeah, cuz that would be you could have done with it. Not a happy day, that day. No. Well, I know,

 

Eve Drew  41:54

I've had all three, Josh, I needed you then

 

Trisha Cashmere  41:56

three audits?

 

Josh Truscott  41:59

Well, I know for me, I was audited, audited by Medicare. And fortunately, I had everything pretty much under control. But even despite that, it was still a very stressful experience. And I would have paid the cost of my subscription program, which is $594 a year, I would have paid that just to have the audit support. So really, that's actually something that not a lot of my members utilize, which is possibly a good thing, because they don't need it. But I know, the value of the subscription, in my mind is probably covered purely by that audit support.

 

Eve Drew  42:32

Yeah, absolutely, definitely would be. And I was the same way, like we hadn't done anything wrong, like we had everything in place. But it was still, it was still a lot to work through definitely, particualry with a big team and lots of referrals and everything like that. So you can tell, we had one of the big medical clinics locally that was audited a couple of years ago. And we could tell because they were asking for this form and this form and obviously going through the process from their end. So that would be enormous, I imagine in a clinic of that size as well. One of the huge things, Josh, for regional, rural practitioners has always been, you know, reduced access to professional development. And even with the podiatry Association, who I was a member for, for 20 years, a lot of this stuff was still  face to face. And that was a barrier. Because when you're in Warrnambool, and you're three and a half hours from Melbourne, you can't just pop down for an evening. Special Interest Group. So I think the the big one of the big things is that everything for you is online, I think there's a lot of online PD Now, thankfully, and COVID is probably increased that as well. But that's just such a huge benefit as well, for regional and rural practitioners, and probably even people in capital cities who don't have the time to go to things after work, they can do it from home. So, so thank you for that, because that's definitely been a huge benefit  to being part of your program.

 

Josh Truscott  44:02

Oh, thanks, Eve That's lovely to hear. And yes, I completely agree. Accessibility is, is definitely one of the big advantages, advantages of having online learning content.

 

Eve Drew  44:15

I could just summarized that by  just saying accessibility.

 

Josh Truscott  44:18

I remember when I started, as I was setting the clinic up the setting up the business, there were I came up with this idea it might have been an exercise in the online course that I was doing, but it was around creating the pillars of what the business is built on. And accessibility was one of those pillars, both in terms of being able being accessible from location so it can be accessed from anywhere, but also I think pricing was part of accessibility that it's priced at a way that I think is a fair pricing. It's it's not bargain basement, but it's it's very reasonable and looking at the inclusions. I think it's it's well priced. I certainly compared to the expenses of conferences and traveling and time away from the clinic. And

 

Trisha Cashmere  45:06

I don't know about, I don't know what people are charging in your space. But certainly in physiotherapy, a one day course, anywhere is going to be more than what you're charging for your whole access to your whole program. So I think that it's certainly priced in a way that makes it super accessible. And you know, as an employer, probably would be happy to pay for for my team, in fact, except it's not in physiotherapy. So that's difficult.

 

Josh Truscott  45:30

Well, there's an opportunity for us,

 

Trisha Cashmere  45:32

there is something definitely.

 

Josh Truscott  45:34

And just back to that, I guess that that that pricing conversation, I don't for one second, want to want people to feel that my program gives them everything they need. There are certain live face to face events that that can't be replicated online, you can't do a practical, dry needling course online. So I think that the live, live events are absolutely crucial. But I think what they need to do is make the live events, things that can can only be done live. So if there's an online version, such as a presentation or a lecture, I think having that done online is is the priority. And if it has to be done live, then it should be done live. And I don't mind paying reasonable money for a course a day course that's going to really enhance my clinical skills. It's when you're paying lots of money just to sit in a room listening to someone talk that I get cranky.

 

Trisha Cashmere  46:37

No one's paying anything to listen to us talk right now. So it's all good. Or they should be getting plenty of value, that's for sure.

 

Josh Truscott  46:47

I'm sure they are. Absolutely.

 

Eve Drew  46:51

It's been amazing chatting with you, Josh, I think I always love chatting with you, of course, but I love hearing your story. And I love chatting to people that are also, I guess diversifying in their careers. Because that's something that you know, Trisha, and I've done and we chatted with Cameron yesterday, who you know, as well. And  to hear his story and the way that he's again, diversified and taken different paths in his career from a podiatrist. So I think there's plenty of us that are that are doing this kind of work and looking for different opportunities and challenges within our careers and within our industry. And it's just very interesting to hear about it. And inspiring. Yeah,

 

Josh Truscott  47:35

thank you very much. And I think it's one of the great things about living in the world that we live in, in the times that we live in that we're able to do this because I know when when you and I first started practicing, wasn't there wasn't really much scope for this sort of stuff. There were opportunities in sort of other areas that were related to clinical work, but there's so so many more opportunities now than there ever have been.

 

Trisha Cashmere  47:59

And that's an interesting world. It is. Thank

 

Eve Drew  48:03

goodness for that. All right, Josh. Well, we're gonna let you go. And thank you so much once again for joining us. Lovely to see you Trisha. Also, and we will no doubt chat soon. And everybody jumped onto ultimatepodiatrist.com.au

 

48:21

are just gonna you conduct a you've actually got we've got.co.uk as well for our English program. So I'm not sure whether you've got a UK audience but if you do, there is a UK version.

 

Eve Drew  48:33

Wonderful. No stopping you, Josh. Thanks.

 

Josh Trucott  48:36

Have a great day. Thanks for chatting with you.

 

Trisha Cashmere  48:39

Nice to meet you. Okay, bye.

 

Eve Drew  48:42

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the business of health. Please share it with your friends. And be sure to tag me Eve at her health underscore collective and Trisha at healthy body underscore code so we can say thank you.

 

Trisha Cashmere  48:56

If you enjoyed listening to us, make sure you follow the podcast on your preferred platform. And if you want to make us really happy give us a five star review so that more allied health professionals like you can find us. We would love to hear from you and we want to tailor our podcast to your needs. So if you have any questions or comments, you can email us at [email protected].

 

Eve Drew  49:19

We truly hope the business of health podcast provides you with incredible value and helps you to create the health business and career of your dreams.